The first amendment says you and your religious exercise are protected rights. But practicing your faith can’t come at the expense of other people’s wellbeing, public safety, and taxpayer dollars. Stop discrimination in the name of religion.

Religious freedom does not give any of us the right to discriminate against or harm others. Learn the difference between real threats to religious liberties and using religion as an excuse to attack others.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott claims to support religious freedom, but it seems that's the case only if religious organizations obey his political demands. If they don't, the governor will have state officials threaten them.

“As Americans, religious liberty is our birthright. But the question in these cases is whether, in order to respect religious liberty, we must allow people of faith to impose their personal beliefs on those who may not share them."

While bills promoting discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have passed legislatures in states such as Indiana, Arkansas and North Carolina this year, civil liberties and LGBT-rights groups are celebrating the failure of similar bills in the Texas Legislature. Four of those groups issued the following statements on today’s close of the 2015 legislative session in the Lone Star State:

The Texas legislature is poised to pass HB 4105, a bill that would prohibit the use of state and local funds to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. While the Texas business community had initially remained silent on the issue, this week Dell, American Airlines, Celanese, GSD&M, and BP have come out to oppose the measure with vigor.

Yet another piece of legislation designed to allow discrimination against gay and transgender Texans could come to a vote on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives as early as Wednesday. State Rep. Scott Sanford’sHB 3864, which would allow child welfare service providers to use religion to discriminate, has been filed as a proposed amendment to the sunset bill for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). That sunset bill, HB 2433 by state Rep. Cindy Burkett, is on the Texas House calendar for Wednesday, May 13.